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'c. A. GEIB. GAME BOARD.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919. V 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

entedSept. 9, 1919.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. Pat

-C. A. GEIB.

ME BOARD.

FILED DEC-31,1918;

APFLICATION C. A. GEIB.

GAME BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED mac- 3!. 191a.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

-GARL A. GEIB, ornnw YORK, n. Y.

GAME-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

Application filed December 31, 1918. Serial I10. 269,030.

for cooperation with one or more balls or i like rolling members.

' Among the particular objects of the in vention is to provide an improved game board over which a ball is adapted to be operated either by force or by gravity, the board being so arranged or designed as to cause the ball to roll into and through a considerable number of spherical segmental pits or depressions formed in the upper surface' of the board before it comes to rest finally in one of the depressions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a board for a rollingball game, said board being provided with a field of depressions all so. designed and arranged as to make it impossible for the ball to rest finally outside of one or another of the depressions.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and While the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose of illustrating. a practical embodiment thereof referenceis had to the accompanying drawings, in which, like reference characters designate the same parts in the. several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a gameboard showing especially the depression field and the abutment bounding the distant edge thereof from the operator, the main portion of the board between the operator and the field being broken away.

Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are vertical longitudinal sections on thecorresponding lines of Fig.

1, for the purpose of indicating the contour of the surface of said field, and

Figs. ,5 6, and .7 are vertical transverse sectional details on the eorrespondlng llnes ,cerned. The pits 16 are all Referring now more specifically to the drawings, 1 show at 10 a game board of any suitable length and width, the same being adapted to be supported in approximately horizontal position or with .a slight inclination toward the rear end if desired Where there'is located the field 11 of depressions or pits. The board is provided with right and left side rails 12 and 13, a front rail 14,

and a rear end rail or abutment 15, the side and rear rails serving to bound the side and rear edges of the field. The smooth portion of the face of the board between the front rail 14L and the field 11 is preferably flat or plane, but as to this I am not especially con cerned. The board or pitted field may be made of any suitable material, such as Wood or its equivalent.

As will be observed from the sectional views, the field 11 has a general dip or inclination throughout all its portions from the boundaries or edges thereof toward the center'so that with the board as a whole lying or supported substantially horizontal it is a physical impossibility for any ball to come to rest on any point or part of the field eX- cept in one of the depressions, unless it be in contact with another ball.

I show in the drawings the field as comprising SlX major pits 16, preferably in the forinofspherical segments with all smooth rounded edges or contours, one of which is located at or near the center of the field, one on, each side of the center pit substantially midway between it and the adjacent side rail, one directlyback of the center pit midway between it andthe abutment 15, and the other two being located in front of the first three specified, and each equidistant from thecenter pit and one of the side pits. Au riliaryto the major pits 16 I may pro- ,vide one or more minorpits 17 shown here in as two in number and located at the right and left of the rearmost major pit 16 and adjacent to the ends of the rear abut- 1nent. It is to be noted that in the illustration the right and left sides of the board are symmetrical throughout so ,far as the arrangement vof the pits and valleys is conpreferably of the same depth considered wlth respect to the bottom of the field, though the actual depth of the center pit with respect to the .field immediately surrounding it, may be less than the surrounding pits, by reason of the areal serene IQY a? we field towa the center. The two minor pits 17 likewise are preferably of the same depth, but these pits are much shallower than the pits 16 as is best shown in Fig. 5.

In addition to the general slope or inclination of the field 11 toward the center I provide shallow runways or valleys leading from various directions into the several pits. For example I show at 18 aseries of valleys leading rearward from the front edge of the field 11 toward and into the foremost major pits 16, two to each pit and from the corner of the field and longitudinal center thereof respectively. At the rear corners of the field are valleys 19 leading downward and forward as well as inward toward the side pits 16. From each pit furthermore there leads an auxiliary valley 20 to the next adjacent pit. I provide valleys 21 also leading from each of the minor pits 17 to each ,of the two adjacent major pits. All of the valleys are relatively shallow and in view of the general inclination of the field toward the center may in some cases be dispensed with. Interest is added, however, by the use of valleys because of the undulating character of the field that is incident to their use. The sectional views indicate clearly that all parts or" portions of the field are either smooth and nearly fiat or else rounded and upwardly convex, there being no sharp edges, ridges, or corners at any point remote from the boundary lines.

The abutment 15 may be variously formed, generally in an arc of a circle but may be provided with deflectors 22 and 23 connected in anysuitable manner. If attached by screws they'may be removed if desired.

In the practice of the invention or the playing of the game one or more balls 24: of any suitable size or construction may be used. Preferably, however, the ball br balls and the pits are so correlated that the curvature of each pit bottom is materially greater than that of the balls, while the pits are so relatively shallow that their depth is less than the radius of the balls. A. ball delivered from the front end of the board toward the field 11 may roll along or over any portion of such field, and if it has force enough may strike against the abutment 15 or one of the deflectors from which it will rebound-or be directed in some other direct1on across the field. In the common form of rolling ball games there are provided one ormore pits or pockets into which the balls may roll, such pits or pockets being usually made with vertical walls and sharp edges whereby the ball will be stopped rather abruptly, and when stopped will always be held at such place. In this case, however,

.where there are no sharp edges or corners on the field a ball rolling into any pit,

' whether major or minor, is almost certain to roll therefrom into some one or more of the other pits before it finally comes to rest. In my experience with the practice of this game I have found that a ball may for example roll entirely around the center of one pit and within the rim thereof and then after gravitating toward and across the center of such pit will pass therefrom into another pit presenting a very strange and even weird behavior. The different pits may be variously identified by number or game values, but as to this feature I am not especially concerned inasmuch as different operators may desire different indications. Obviously in the use of more than one ball in the playing of the game after a ball has come to rest in any one of the pits, a succeeding ball may disturb the previous one and send it to some other position, but such feature broadly is not new, the principal feature broadly lying in the peculiar contour or structure of the board surface or field, whereby the behavior of a single ball. rolling over the surface and into any one or even all of the pits before it comes to rest, or repeatedly into and out of any pit is most peculiar.

I claim:

1. The herein described game board having a field provided with a plurality of pits of spherical segmental form with all rounded margins, the surface of the field being inclined from all edges thereof toward the interior.

2. The herein described game board having a pitted field, all portions of the field including the edges of the pits being smooth and rounded and convex.

8. The herein described game board having a field provided with a plurality of pits and communicating valleys, all of the pits and valleys having rounded edges, and all of the remaining surface of the field having a general inclination inward away from its boundary.

4:. The herein described game board having a field provided with a plurality of major pits of differing depths with respect to the surface of the field but having their bottoms on substantially the same plane and one or more minor pits of less depth than rounded margins, the surface of the field having a general inclination from all edges thereof toward its center.

7. The herein described rolling ball game having a pitted field provided with an undulating contour throughout whereby the ball or balls are free to roll thereover in any direction and back and forth into and out of any pit to any other pit, each pit being bounded by a convex rounded margin and having a depth materially less than the radius of the balls.

8. The herein described game board whose surface is provided with a plurality of spherical segmental pits having all rounded contours, and also having a plurality of shallow valleys with rounded edges radiating from one of said pits to all the pits surrounding the same.

9. A game board for one or more balls to roll thereover, said board having a plurality of spherical segmental pits formed in its upper surface and having all smooth round ed edges, the pits having less depth than the radius of the balls and having greater curvatures at their bottoms than the balls.

10. The herein described game board for one or more rolling balls, said board having an upper surface inclined toward its interior and having a plurality of relatively shallow pits materially less in depth than the radius of the balls and each pit being surrounded by a smooth rounded edge whereby a ball may roll freely and repeatedly into and out of any pit before coming to rest.

11. The herein described game board for rolling balls, said board having a pitted field and a runway leading thereto, said pitted field being provided with a group of related pits of relatively shallow depth, less than the radius of the balls and of greater curvature than the balls, the boundaries of the pits being smooth and rounded and having means to direct a ball from one pit to another whereby a ball may roll freely and repeatedly into and out of any pit or from one pit to another before coming to rest.

CARL A. GEIB.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

